Russia slams UN report on human rights in Ukraine

May 16, 2014 - 17:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia criticized a UN report on human rights in Ukraine on Friday, May 16, saying it lacked any semblance of objectivity, and accused its authors of following "political orders" to whitewash the pro-Western leadership, according to Reuters.

The Foreign Ministry said the report “demonized pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine” while ignoring “the crudest violations of human rights by the self-proclaimed Kyiv authorities.”

“UN monitors found an alarming deterioration in the situation in the east and serious problems emerging in Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia,” UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement accompanying the report.

Russia said the report "cast doubt on the independence and impartiality" of the UN human rights body.

"The complete lack of objectivity, glaring disparities and double standards leave no doubt that its authors carried out a political order to whitewash the self-proclaimed authorities in Kyiv," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the report's authors had tailored information from sources "to fit preconceived conclusions: the justification of the Kyiv junta and the demonization of the protest movement in the southeast".

Russia accuses the United States and the European Union of helping Ukraine's current leaders topple former President Viktor Yanukovych, and denies Western allegations that it supports the separatists in the east.

Moscow does not recognize the legitimacy of the new Kiev leadership and refers to it as a junta.